Released to coincide with the release of Pixar’s latest animated movie, Temple Run: Brave is a licensed version of the popular, er, running game with which it shares 2/3rds of a name.
The core mechanics are almost identical to those seen in the original Temple Run, whereby your character auto-runs into the screen while being chased by bad guys and you must swipe at the screen to make him jump over gaps, duck under branches and turn left and right at the relevant junctures.
Except, in Temple Run: Brave your character is the redhead Scot from the movie rather than an anonymous man, and your pursuer is Disney’s corrosive creative influence, rather than a skeleton or zombie or something.
It’s not the first time a super successful Android/ iOS game has been branded for an impromptu movie tie-in sequel. Angry Birds: Rio was perhaps the first mobile game to find fame on its own two feet before being yoked to the animated movie property from 20th Century Fox.
It’s an understandable move on the part of the developer, who was no doubt paid handsomely by Disney for the loan of its game concept, but at 69p, the game costs 69p more than its vanilla predecessor and, in the rush to get the game to market, it’s lost some of the grace and finesse of the original, although the relentless emphasis on In-App Purchases is still present and correct.
Selling out aside, this trend got us thinking about what other movies could be paired with popular mobile games for impromptu sequels. Here are some elevator pitches…
Game Dev Story: Annie
A redhead child orphan wins the chance to work at Game Loft (run by Albert Finney) for a week before realising she was way better off living with her half-cut, sexually-frustrated orphanage manager.
World of Goo: Dirty Dancing
A romantic drama that documents a teenage girl’s coming of age through a relationship with a dance instructor which is threatened when the dance studio is hit by an oil spill.
Spelltower: Spellbound
Like Spelltower, except you have to wear prescription glasses and play in a mid-American accent
Canabalt: Purple Rain
Prince flees the ghost of his abusive father, upsetting doves.
Drop Se7en
Gwyneth Paltrow’s disembodied heads fall into a giant box. Line them up to make them disappear.
Draw Something: Edward Scissorhands
Tell Winona Ryder which items to shoplift by drawing them using five styluses.
Ecco the Dolphin: The Cove
Cut the Rope: Dancer in the Dark
Save Bjork’s life.
Solipskier: Citizen Kane
Your skis are too tight. Find Rosebud ASAP.
Angry Birds: Schindler’s List
We should probably stop this now.
